Aegis
by Venetia5
Summary: She was a curiosity, a mystery. She was different. Recruited by Charles Xavier, she must help to stop the war that is looming on the horizon. But with danger and death lurking around every corner, will she be able to protect those that she has come to call her family? Rated T for violence though rating may change. Alex/OC
1. Preface

**Aegis**

Preface

When I was younger I used to dream about being taken away, far away, to a place where I would be safe, warm and cared for. I used to dream that my mother would come. She would be tall and elegant, exuding a calm but regal air. She would smell of tiger lily perfume and coconut shampoo with an undertone of honeysuckle and orchids. Her voice would be light and dulcet, with a slight Greek accent.

This is what I used to dream of. But it was only a dream. And when I woke up, reality hit me once again. I would be lying on a cold, dirty bed in a run-down orphanage on the outskirts of New York City. Sunlight would filter through the dusty blinds placed haphazardly over the windows. I would be able to hear the breathing of the other four children I shared the miniscule, grimy room.

But that was then, when I was helpless, when I was too young to be able to look after myself. I am now 16, no longer living in that awful place, but in a place with friends and the people I now call my family. My name is Autumn, and this is my story.


	2. Chapter 1

**Aegis**

Chapter 1

It was a chilly, autumn morning in New York City and the sun had just begun to crest the tall skyscrapers that seemed to cover every inch of the sprawling city. The streets were already crowded, the city alive with the hustle and bustle of the day once again. People went about their business, no one paying any attention to the young, slightly smaller-than-average girl with soft grey eyes and blonde plaited hair that was dodging and weaving through the crowd with such experience that could only come from years of traipsing around in the swarming crowds of New Yorkers.

She ducked into a coffee shop and ordered her usual vice: hot chocolate with whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles. The guy behind the bar nodded in her direction. 'Hey, Autumn. How are you?' He greeted her in a familiar way.

'Hey, Elmo. Good. How's business?' The girl replied, sipping at her searingly hot drink.

'Slow. Can't you convince some of those people you know to come in now and then?'

'Elmo, the people I know probably want to kill me. So, unless you want to lose a valuable and frequent customer, no,' she shot back, finishing off her drink. She licked her lips and passed the cup over to him as he finished bussing the counter.

'Who've you been pestering this time, Autumn?'

'Just Don and the rest of his gang. You know, the lightning bolt guys?'

'Autumn, please, please, please, please, please tell me that you don't mean Don Graff, the notorious drug dealer. What did you do this time? Blow up one of his warehouses, or something?'

'Yep,' she replied casually. Elmo's jaw dropped and he dropped his cloth. 'You know, if your jaw drops any lower, you'll probably end up dislocating it.'

In that moment, as Elmo was shutting his mouth, two men walked in. The first one was tall, with closely cropped dark hair and a cold, hard expression. He had the sort of looks that any woman would have a hard time resisting, but his behaviour displayed a certain kind of indifference.

The second man was shorter than the first, with thicker and more unruly hair. His face looked softer and kinder with a warmer and more inviting expression. This man was also attractive, but in a different, subtler way.

The pair headed towards the bar and took a seat on either side of Autumn. Elmo raised an eyebrow, as if to say 'Who are they?', and Autumn raised one back at him, as if to say 'How am I meant to know?'. Elmo sighed, picked up the cloth from the floor and asked both men what they'd like.

'I'd like to get on with this, if that's agreeable with you Charles?' The tall one said.

'Erik, I wish you weren't quite so brash sometimes,' The smaller man, Charles chided, holding his hand out to Autumn. 'A pleasure to meet you, my dear. My name is Charles Xavier. This is Erik Lensherr, my associate. We were wondering if you could help us.' At this Autumn visibly gulped. Did they want to talk to her about what had happened at the warehouse the other night? Or did they want to talk to her about her the other thing?

'Autumn. Pleased to meet you too,' she said politely, shaking Charles' hand firmly. Erik merely grunted and Autumn had to resist the urge to push him off his bar stool. Charles was right. He really was brash.

'We have a proposition for you. We know all about your..._problem_, Autumn. About what happened 6 years ago. Now, there's no need to worry my dear,' he said soothingly, noticing that Autumn's breathing had picked up and her eyes were already scanning the shop for possible points of escape. 'We are like you, actually. We'd like to help you.'

'In what way are you like me?' She asked cautiously, already suspicious of these strangers. They worked for the government, which had already made her suspicious, but the fact that they knew about her past, about what she could do and had done, was even more startling than when Elmo had kissed her under the mistletoe last year at the coffee shop's annual Christmas knees-up.

'_We are mutants. We have special gifts, just like you. As you can see and hear, I am talking to you, but no sound is coming from my mouth. I'm what you'd call a telepath, my dear." _Autumn stared at Charles with wide eyes and an open mouth.

'You might want to close your mouth, or you'll catch flies,' Eric snapped, waving his hand and levitating a metal pot of sugar over towards him. If anything, Autumn's eyes became wider and her mouth dropped even further towards the floor.

'How did you do that?' She enquired, her voice filled with a mixture of awe and disbelief.

'Simple. I'm a metal bender. I can manipulate metal. Charles is a telepath, though I assume that he's already demonstrated that.' Autumn closed her mouth but her eyes were still wide open. Suddenly she noticed that everyone in the room had stopped moving. All their actions were ceased; A man was caught in handing a wad of cash over to another shifty looking man with a dodgy-looking moustache; Another man was stuck getting up from his booth. And to top it all off, Elmo was still bending over the coffee machine, long after the coffee had squirted out into the cup.

'May I inquire as to what you want from me?' Autumn asked politely, slightly irked that they had frozen her friend. Still, if they allowed her enough time to grab a sharpie and do what she did best, she would be satisfied.

'We would like you to join us in a project called Division X. It's a group of mutants who are helping us to stop World War III,' Charles explained slowly. However, this just seemed to confuse Autumn further. 'There is a man named Shaw – or Schmidt, depending on who knows him – who wants to start World War III between the USSR and America. We intend to stop him. And we'd like your help to do it.'

'All right, I'll join you. But you have to know now that I can't control either of my powers. They don't work when I want them to, and they can be dangerous, especially when they go haywire. In fact, how many others will there be?' Autumn asked, nervous of the answer. If there were too many then someone would be hurt when her powers eventually went haywire, which was an absolute given. She'd never been able to last more than 2 months without her powers going haywire at some point or other.

'There are already 5 others at Headquarters. There's just one other that we need to pick up along the way, and then we can be going. Do you need to get anything before you go?' Autumn thought of all the useless bits of tat that she had collected over the years. There was nothing that she truly treasured apart from the denim coat that she had been wrapped up in when she arrived at the orphanage, and she was currently wearing that.

'No, there's nothing whatsoever. But, can I say goodbye to Elmo first?'

'Make it quick,' Eric grunted out. This time, instead of resisting the urge to push him off the barstool, Autumn gave him one firm shove and he toppled to the floor, landing in a heap.

'Autumn. Eric. Please. Do try to get on. We have a 5 hour car journey ahead of us and I don't think that my sanity will be able to stand you two bickering for that length of time,' Charles groaned. Then Autumn and Eric groaned at the thought of having to spend 5 hours in each other's company.

All of a sudden, everything in the shop began to move again. Elmo stood up and pushed and stopped the machine before turning round to see Autumn ducking under the counter. He also noted that Eric was picking himself up off the floor and wondered what and happened. Then he decided that where Autumn was concerned, it was much better not to know sometimes.

'I guess you're leaving then,' Elmo said, startling Autumn. 'I may not be a mutant but I can tell that somehow you guys managed to have an entire conversation and that I'm now going to have to give you a very emotional send-off because there's no one else who likes you enough.' They both cracked a grin at this last bit and Autumn punched his arm lightly.

'Some friend you are, Elmo. But yes, this is goodbye. Not forever, I hope,' she whispered, wrapping her willowy arms around his lean figure and resting her head on his chest. His arms encircled her slight and bony body and he stroked her hair with his free hand.

'Ok, well I give you permission to go, but only under the conditions that you eat properly and you give that tall guy hell. He looks like the kind of guy who'd shoot you, as opposed to shake your hand.' Autumn chuckled lightly.

'Yeah, he does. And who said I needed your permission anyway. I'm old enough to look after myself,' she added indignantly.

'I'm sure you are,' Elmo, ruffling her hair affectionately before placing a kiss on her forehead and ushering her towards the two men waiting for her, one of whom was getting very impatient.

'I thought I told you to make it quick,' Eric grumbled, trying to steer Autumn out of the coffee shop as she waved to Elmo, who in turn waved at her and gave her the thumbs up.

'He's family,' she retorted simply, before latching on to Charles' arm, and he guided her through the bustling crowds to a sleek black saloon. 'Oh, nice car. It's a Chevrolet Impala, if I'm not mistaken' she exclaimed. Eric grunted in surprise.

'_So she knows about cars, _Eric thought. '_Probably the only thing she knows about, though.' _He was startled out of his thoughts by a hand continually waving in front of his face. He looked down to see Autumn with a smirk on her face. He quickly grabbed her hand, twisted it behind her back and pinned it there. Or at least he did until he was blown backwards by some inexplicable force. Surely, it couldn't have come from the little girl that had been annoying him, could it? He carefully extracted himself from the pavement and walked over slowly to where Charles and Autumn were staring at him, slack-jawed. 'What the hell just happened, Charles?' He growled addressing his question to the young man with brunette hair.

'Ah...well – um...you see – ah, how to explain? Autumn may or may not have the power to create a force field when threatened or in danger, though I myself am not quite aware what just happened. Would you care to explain, Autumn?' The young girl glanced between the calm brunette and the fuming one, whose knuckles had turned white in the tight fists they had formed.

'And you didn't think to explain this to me earlier?' He all but yelled. Suddenly he spun towards the blonde girl, who flinched at the force of his gaze. 'And yes, perhaps you would like to explain.'

'Well, when I feel threatened, as Charles said, I have the tendency to create a force field. Except, as I explained, I can't really control either of my powers, and so sometimes the force field tends to just...blast outwards, knocking away the danger,' she explained plainly and simply. However this just seemed to anger Eric more, so she skilfully positioned herself behind Charles, using him as a barricade against Eric's wrath. 'Sorry,' she said in a timid voice.

This apology seemed to quell some of Eric's anger, and he unfurled his fingers, wiggling them to allow the blood to flow through them once again. Autumn peeked out from behind Charles and allowed herself a small smile of victory as Eric turned, opened a door to the car and slid into the seat. Charles, being the gentleman that he was, opened the back door for Autumn and she slid into the comfortable seats in the back before thanking Charles and shutting the door. Charles slid into the driver's seat, and pulled on his seatbelt.

'Autumn, put your seatbelt on,' a voice commanded her, though surprisingly enough; it wasn't Charles who spoke, but Eric. He glared at her when she didn't immediately buckle up and she snapped out her trance long enough to do as he said. Charles pulled away from the curb, and as they trundled through the city, Autumn couldn't help but think that she was finally doing what she had always dream of. She was finally escaping. But what was she escaping to?


	3. Chapter 2

**Aegis**

Chapter 2

The car journey was slow and tedious. It had only been two hours since the trio had set off and Eric already wanted to throttle Autumn. The girl had been grating on his nerves since they'd set off. 'Will you stop kicking my bloody chair?' He screamed, startling Autumn into stopping for a few moments before she continued. He groaned and turned to Charles, silently pleading with him to make her stop.

'Why don't you give Eric a break, Autumn? He didn't mean to scare you earlier, you know,' Charles reasoned but the girl was having none of it. 'Please Autumn! I don't think my sanity can take any more of you and Eric fighting in such a confined space. Why don't you go to sleep? We've still got three hours to go, with a short stop on the way.' At this both Eric and Autumn groaned loudly.

'Why doesn't Eric go to sleep instead?' Autumn retorted cheekily, sticking her tongue out at the taller man who now had a scowl plastered on his face.

'I would but _someone_ is incessantly kicking my chair,' Eric managed to grate out. 'And if you ever stick your tongue out at me again, I'll make sure I cut if off. Now go to sleep.' Autumn huffed, kicked his chair one final time and then settled down in the back.

A few minutes later Autumn had finally fallen asleep, cocooned in her denim jacket that was two sizes too big for her. Both Eric and Charles breathed a sigh of relief until Charles realized that she was sprawled out across both of the back seats. 'You do realize that we're going to have to wake her up again when we stop.' Eric groaned. How was he going to be able to survive another 2 hours with girl awake and with help from someone else to annoy her?

'Please Charles, don't remind me. The girl is about all I can take. Is there no way that you can render her unconscious with your telepathy?' Eric asked. As much as the small girl annoyed him, he didn't really want to resort to using force to shut her up.

'Not without hurting her. Just pray that Alex is not as annoying as she is, or else I don't think we will be able to survive the rest of this journey. Not without killing one of them, at least.' Eric scoffed and went back to gazing at the bleak scenery around him. Charles would never be able to kill one of his _students_.

* * *

Autumn shot bolt upright when a hand gently touched her shoulder. For a moment she was confused. Where was she? Her head pounded relentlessly and she could feel the onslaught of a headache raging through her head. She groaned and she felt a hand still resting gently on shoulder. She peered around and then it all came back to her. Eric and Charles, the coffee shop, the car journey, living her dream, all of it. She turned and saw that it was Eric who had shaken her awake and had his hand on her shoulder. 'Sorry Autumn. I had to wake you because we're picking up another mutant. You can go back to sleep when he's here, alright?' He asked, his voice barely above a whisper and filled with kindness. Autumn was instantly suspicious. What had he done? Had he doodle with a sharpie on her face? No, Eric wasn't childish. Still, his behaviour was odd.

About 7 minutes later, Charles came out of the intimidating grey building labelled 'State Penitentiary: Solitary Isolation'. _Great! _Autumn thought, _I'm going to be in a confined space with a hardened criminal. This ought to be good!_

The mutant beside Charles was about as tall as him with blonde spiked hair and a lean physique. They away walked briskly from the drab building and both climbed into the car silently. 'Let's go,' was all Charles said as he started up the car and sped away from the prison. 'Autumn, this is Alex. Alex, this is Autumn, one of the mutants you'll be working with,' Charles introduced both of the young mutants.

Alex stuck his hand out and grunted gruffly, 'Nice to meet you.' Autumn shook his hand firmly. 'You know where we're going?'

'Not a clue. You really stayed in solitary?' She asked forwardly. Autumn had learned from an early age that tact only got you so far before you had to start being blunt. A look of shock and anger passed over his face before it was covered by a mask of indifference.

'Yeah I did. What's it to you?' He asked defensively. Autumn could feel waves of anger coming off him and an air of danger seemed to surround him. Autumn could feel the hairs on the back of her neck stand up and she was instantly on alert. She could sense that this guy was dangerous, that he'd killed before.

'Just wondering what you did to be put in isolation. Who'd ya kill?' She asked flippantly, moving into a slightly defensive stance. However this didn't really help her as Alex lunged across the car and pinned her against the door, his arm on her neck.

'Keep out of my head!' He growled, his voice dangerously low.

'I wasn't in your head,' Autumn retorted sassily as she felt her powers welling up inside of her. 'And you might want to let go of me or things will get messy. Ask Eric.'

'Alex, let go of her. I do not wish to be catapulted windshield,' Eric's voice drifted to them from the front of the car.

'I will as soon as she learns to hold her tongue,' he hissed, his voice full of venom.

'It seems that I'm not the only one who needs to hold they're tongue.' At this, Alex slapped her forcefully across the face with the back of his hand. For a moment she was stunned into silence, before she also backhanded him across the face, twice as hard. He fell to the floor, stunned at the fact that a girl, a petite and innocent looking girl, had managed to hit him so hard. He felt the car come slowly to a stop and was surprised when he yanked out by none other than Eric and then deposited in the front seat. Eric took his seat in the back and looked at the two youths sternly.

'I'm sick of hearing you two arguing and both of you trying to kill each other,' he said as he pulled his seatbelt on. 'Both of you, just go to sleep. We still have 2 hours to go.'

Autumn was just drifting into a peaceful sleep when Eric's voice startled her.

'Charles, do you really think that this is a good idea? She's very young.'

'Eric, if I didn't have faith in how powerful her abilities are then I never would have allowed her to get mixed up in this in the first place.'

'And just how powerful are her abilities, Charles? I feel like there's something you're hiding. What exactly can she do?'

'She's more powerful than even she knows. You've only sampled a small amount of the power she possesses. Her force fields are only the beginning. But I think that first she must figure out what she can do before I explain it to anyone.'

Autumn's mind was too fuzzy to really process what the two men were saying, so she didn't hear the last part of Charles' sentence. She soon drifted off into total and calm oblivion.

* * *

**Thank you to the people who have favourited, followed and reviewed this story. A special shout-out to and-then-they-die, Guest and I-am-Derpette for reviewing my story. Please continue reading and reviewing.**


	4. Chapter 3

**Aegis**

Chapter 3

When Autumn woke again, she was lying down horizontally on something warm and solid. She looked up and saw Eric looking down at her with a mixture of emotions that Autumn didn't recognize. She shifted slightly and sat up slowly, her limbs groaning in protest. 'Where are we?' She asked quietly, so as not to wake up Alex, whom she'd noticed was sleeping peacefully in the front seat.

'We're coming up to the headquarters now,' he replied, gesturing to the large building looming up ahead of them. It was quite remarkable and imposing, but also very conspicuous.

'I would have thought that it would be more camouflaged, being a government building and all,' she contemplated aloud. Eric chuckled and turned his attention back to the building in front of them.

'We're here. Would like the honour of waking up Alex, or shall I do it instead?' He asked her jokingly.

'I shall leave you the honour of waking up the beast that is a grumpy Alex. I'll bet you $5 that he'll try to attack you for waking him,' she said.

'Ah, but I'd feel bad for taking your money,' he jested in a light tone. Charles smiled. They'd found something to bond over, even if it was their mutual dislike for Alex. Well, it was better now than it had been at the start of the car journey. He glided up to the curb and they all piled out of the car except Alex who was still oblivious to their arrival. Eric opened the passenger door and shook Alex roughly, causing him to lunge at Eric, but the tackle was poor and instead he ended up sprawled out on the pavement, where he had to be helped but by a still-giggling Autumn. Both of the young mutants turned to gaze at the impressive building before them.

The air had turned cold and bitter and Autumn shrugged her thin denim coat closer to her in an attempt to keep warm. Charles gestured for the group to follow him and they did so, Autumn walking at a brisker pace so that she could get inside to the obvious warmth that was radiating from the building.

Charles and Eric led the other two mutants through a maze of corridors until they reached a set of double doors. As Autumn and Alex entered the room, the first thing they both noticed was that there were other people, 5 to be precise, sitting on plush white sofas and chairs. There was also a pinball machine in the corner that brought back many memories for Alex. He quickly shook his head to clear it of all thoughts of that _place._ A blonde girl, older than Autumn, bounded over to them both and extended her Autumn.

'Hi, I'm Raven,' she chirped happily, shaking Autumn's hand vigorously before shaking Alex's hand too. 'You must be the other mutants that Charles was telling us all about.'

'Uh, yeah. I'm Alex,' he introduced himself, still a bit overwhelmed from Raven's introduction. 'This is Autumn,' he said, gesturing to the girl in question who gave a small wave and looked down at her feet. _Strange, _he thought, _she was much more forward in the car._ He ignored this thought however as the other began to introduce themselves.

'I'm Sean,' said the red-headed mutant who was perched on the arm of the sofa. 'Why hello, beautiful,' Sean addressed Autumn in a seductive tone. For some reason this angered Alex, but he quelled his anger. She was a young, annoying girl who'd done her best to try and aggravate him in the car.

'Sean, leave the poor girl alone. She's too young, even for you. My name's Angel,' a girl with long ebony hair and tattoos on her shoulders said, extending her hand for them both to shake.

'I'm Darwin,' said a dark-skinned mutant, nodding at them both. He had what appeared to be a can of soda in one hand and a cookie in the other.

'This is Hank,' Raven cleared her throat and gestured to a shy guy with light brown hair and glasses perched on the end of his nose. _Weak_, was the first thing that entered Alex's head when he saw Hank. _Wouldn't have lasted 5 minutes in prison._ 'Come join us. We were just about to find out what each of us can do.'

Alex took a seat next to Darwin, who passed him another can of soda. Autumn chose to sit next to Hank and Raven, still staring at the floor.

'Anyway, we're government agents now. We should have, like, secret codenames. I want to be called Mystique,' Raven declared.

'Damn, I wanted to be called Mystique,' Sean whined.

'Well tough, I called it,' Raven laughed. Suddenly, a fluttering of blue scales covered Raven's body, and then there were two Seans sitting in front of the mutants. A collective gasp rippled through the room and a few 'wows' too.

'Besides, I'm way more mysterious than you,' she said before another fluttering of scales covered her body and she was back to her normal self. They all laughed at Sean's shocked expression. 'What about you Darwin?'

'Well as you know, Darwin's already a nickname, you know, so it fits. I adapt to survive, check this out,' he explained, rising to his feet and wandering over to the fish tank. He dunked his head into the fish tank, and for a moment nothing happened, but then suddenly gills formed on his face and neck, allowing him to breathe under the water. All the mutants clapped loudly, even Alex, while Darwin pulled his head out of the water and shook the water off him in a way similar to a wet dog.

'Thank you. What about you Sean?' Darwin asked.

'I'm going to be Banshee,' he announced proudly.

'Why do you want to be named after a wailing spirit?' Hank enquired, puzzled.

'You might want to cover your ears,' Sean warned them, before moving to crouch at the end of the coffee table with their glasses of drinks. The other mutants all covered their ears as Sean grinned, took a deep breath, and then let out a shrill, deafening shriek which managed to shatter the large window opposite. They all looked at the broken window in shock, before laughing and clapping.

'Your turn,' Sean said, grinning as he pointed to Angel.

'Well, my, er, _stage name _is Angel,' she stated, removing her jacket and turning round so that we could all see her back, which was covered in tattoos. 'It kinda fits.' Everyone gasped as her tattoos peeled off her back, forming real wings which fluttered and she was lifted off the ground.

'You can fly?' Raven asked disbelievingly, still staring in shock at Angel, who had now floated back down to the ground as was putting her jacket back on, much to Sean's annoyance.

'Uh-huh, and...' she said, turning towards the still-shattered window. She leant towards the windows and spat in the direction of the statue in the courtyard. A ball of flames appeared and flew towards the statue, landing on its head. All of the mutants laughed quietly. 'What's your name?' She asked Hank.

'How about...Bigfoot?' Alex mocked him, laughing to himself. Autumn had to physically stop herself from punching Alex smack on the jaw when she saw Hank's upset expression.

'Well, you know what they say about men with big feet,' Raven grated out, glaring at Alex, 'And, uh, yours are kind of small.' She smirked as Alex blushed, grumbled something under his breath and shot Raven a dirty look.

'Ok now,' Darwin tried to diffuse the tension between the two warring sides.

'Hey Alex, what's your power?' Sean asked him, curious to know more about him. Alex had been quite quiet so far, apart from the name-calling incident.

'Ah, it's not really, well, uh...,' he began, looking around nervously. 'I can't do it in here,' he finally managed to get out.

'Can you do it out there?' Darwin asked.

'Why don't you just do it out there?' Raven asked, looking at Alex curiously while he shook his head.

'Come on, just do it,' Sean chimed in.

'Alex, Alex, Alex,' the chant started and rose, all the mutants except Autumn joining until and continuing until Alex finally gave in. He stood up and walked over the broken glass from the window into the courtyard. The other mutants cheered loudly.

'Get back when I tell you!' He shouted back at them as he positioned himself in the courtyard. The other mutants crowded at the edge of the broken window and peered round.

'Get back!' He shouted at them, and they did, but a moment later they all peered round the window again, curious as to what Alex's power was and why he thought it was so dangerous.

'Get back!' He shouted louder and more forcefully this time. The other ignored him this time and he shook his head in defeat. 'Whatever,' he sighed, before swinging his torso and hips round. Three red circles appeared and spun around his body for a moment, all at different angles, before he swung his arms and hips forwards, releasing the discs across the courtyard. They flew across the courtyard, destroying everything in their path, one even slicing the statue in half, before they destroyed themselves.

'Whoa!' The mutants all gasped, clapping and cheering at what Alex had managed to do.

'Havok!' Raven yelled at the top of her lungs, which was almost as deafening as Sean's scream. 'Awesome!'

'That was pretty cool,' Darwin acquiesced, nodding his head in agreement.

'Hey, what about you Autumn? What can you do?' Alex asked the girl in question, curiosity clouding his mind. Autumn had been silent throughout, clapping and cheering, but making no other sound.

'I, uh, it's not really stable,' she mumbled under her breath quietly, so quietly that only Alex could hear her because he was standing right next to her.

'Hey, come on now. I showed you my power. What can be more dangerous than that?' He asked her, still curious as to what her power was. He remembered earlier, in the car, when Eric had told him the he didn't want to be catapulted through the windshield. Autumn shook her head and sat down on the sofa, crossing her arms across her chest and placing her right leg over her left one.

'I'm not doing it,' she stated stubbornly, looking back down at the floor. Alex huffed, and then a brain wave struck him. He put his hands on her hips, starling her for a moment, before hauling her up over his shoulder. Startled, she remained motionless for a moment, before she began to pound on his back with all her might, which was quite a lot as it turned out. He almost collapsed under one of her blows, but continued on his path, climbing over the broken glass, ignoring the stares from the other mutants. 'Alex, put me down. NOW!' She screamed in his ear, making him wince in pain, but he carried on.

'Not until you show me your power,' he said, equally as stubbornly as her.

'You want to see my power? Fine!' She yelled. Autumn felt her force field bubbling up inside of her, yearning to be released. As she obliged. The force field blasted out of her swiftly and suddenly, startling her and knocking Alex backwards, through the broken window and over one of the sofas. Autumn tried to stand up shakily on her legs, but she almost collapsed. Hank caught her easily, and carried her in his arms back into the room, where Darwin and Sean were peeling Alex off the floor where he lay, groaning. Her force field had literally blown him backward, off his feet. 'Alex, are you alright?' She managed to groan out, still weak and sore from pushing out her force field so fast and with so much power behind it. His response was a string of curse words, some of which she didn't understand or know. 'Well, you did ask for it,' she jested humourlessly, laughing at first, but deciding not to when her ribs began to ache. Hank set her down gently on the sofa next to Alex.

'God, what _was that_?' He managed to wheeze out, the breath having been knocked out of him when he landed on the floor.

'That...was...my...force field,' she managed to breathe out, the breath having been knocked out of her too.

'That was so cool!' Raven squealed, clapping and jumping around.

'That's one word for it,' Alex muttered, now able to breathe properly.

'I think that we deserve some fun after all of the hard work,' Raven commented as Angel picked out some music and they all began to jump around and dance on the sofas, apart from Autumn, who went to get a soda.

About two hours later, and the party was in full swing. The little bit of fun had turned into an all-out rave. Hank was hanging upside-down from the light using his feet. He'd been hanging there for the past 30 minutes and Autumn still couldn't quite comprehend how he'd managed to stay like that for so long. Angel was flying about, dancing and swaying to the music, dancing along with Raven, who was jumping up and down on the sofas. Alex and Sean were hitting Darwin, with chairs and other blunt objects, trying to find something that would break the layer of rock skin, but failing miserably. Autumn was sitting off in the corner, reading a paperback novel that she'd found lying around.

In the space of two hours, they'd all become acquainted with each other, feeling more at ease and more comfortable.

'What have you done?' a loud, sharp voice cut through the madness and everyone looked out towards the courtyard. There, looking aghast, was Charles, with Eric and Moira McTaggart, a government agent, in tow. The music ceased, Angel fluttered down to the ground, Raven climbed off the sofa, Hank dropped to the floor, Sean and Alex put down the chairs they had been wielding and Darwin transformed from his rock figure to normal. Autumn looked up and placed her novel on the table beside her. 'Explain yourselves now. The room is trashed, the garden is destroyed, as is the window, and the statue is...I don't even know what to say about that.' He gazed at the young mutants in shock, wanting someone to explain, but none of them seemed to be eager to spill the truth. 'Who destroyed the statue?'

'It was Alex,' Hank mumbled, causing Alex to shout in indignation and send a glare towards Hank.

'Thanks,' he hissed with as much venom as he could muster.

'No, no! It's Havok, its Havok! You have to use his codename!' Raven exclaimed before anyone could move or protest. 'We made some up for you two as well! You're Professor X,' she said, pointing to Charles, before turning to face Eric, 'And you can be Magneto!' She clapped happily.

'Remarkable,' Eric mumbled under his breath before turning on his heel and walking away, following Moira.

Charles shook his head, staring at Raven. 'I expected more from you Raven. Much, much more from you,' he sated unhappily, before walking away to catch up with Eric and Moira, leaving Raven standing in the exact same spot, heartbroken.


	5. Chapter 4

**Aegis**

Chapter 4

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! Autumn woke up with a start, startled awake by the incessant beeping of her alarm clock. Her blonde hair was mussed up and some strands had freed themselves from her messy plait. She laid in bed for a few minutes, reflecting on the past day's events. She cursed herself for being so stupid as to accept Charles and Erik's offer without hesitation. But she'd been so punch-drunk on the idea that there were others like her, that she could learn to harness her powers, and that she was finally able to leave her old life behind that she'd just wandered off with two complete strangers.

About 7 minutes later, she had dressed into a blue plaid shirt, faded jeans and a pair of black, worn sneakers. She'd also managed to tame her hair once again into its usual plait. She admired herself in the mirror for a couple of seconds before a sharp rap on the door startled her and she opened the door to reveal a very hyper and happy Raven.

'Raven, how much sugar have you had this morning?' She asked light-heartedly as the hyper blonde dragged her down the corridor towards the cafeteria. The cafeteria was as modern as the rest of the building, with stainless steel and white surfaces. In the centre of the large room, seated around a large table, were Sean, Darwin, Alex, Hank and Angel. Sean looked half dead and Darwin had to nudge him slightly to wake him up.

'Want some coffee, Sean?' Autumn asked kindly, sympathising with the red-headed boy. He nodded slowly, before slumping onto the table and resting his head on his arms. 'Anyone else want some?' They all nodded and Autumn set off towards the kitchen. She tensed slightly when she heard footsteps behind her, and swung round to see Alex following her.

'Thought you might need a hand carrying all those cups,' he said, offering her a small smile. She offered him a smirk in return.

'I believe I am perfectly capable,' she said sassily, placing her hands on her hips. Alex mirrored her and a grin stretched across his face. Autumn huffed and turned towards the machine once again.

'Aww, come one. I was just trying to make you laugh,' he teased her, trying to tickle her but she ducked away from his reach and held out a salad spoon threateningly at him, daring him to make another move towards her. He stopped for a minute before languidly strolling towards her. 'What exactly are you going to do with that?' He asked, raising an eyebrow and gesturing towards the salad spoon.

'Would you prefer it if I was holding a knife?' She asked in a mocking tone.

'You still wouldn't be scary,' he taunted her. He continued to advance towards her until she dropped the spoon onto the floor. He stopped momentarily, and it was just the opportunity that she was waiting for. In one swift movement, she crossed the remaining space between them and had pinned Alex to the floor, straddling his waist and pressing her arm to his throat, just like he had done the day before.

'Wanna bet?' She teased him, her breath softly tickling his ear. He wriggled around, trying to get free but Autumn's grip was firm. In a last ditch attempt, he bucked his hips, hard, causing Autumn's grip to become slack and Alex quickly reversed their positions, so that _she_ was pinned beneath _him. _

'Yep,' he said, popping the 'p'. 'You're not all that scary. Especially not when you're this vulnerable.' He leaned down, closer towards her. He inhaled her scent and his warm breath tickled her neck. Their lips were almost touching when someone cleared their throat from behind Alex, and they both looked up to see Darwin staring down at them with a mixture of amusement and awe.

'When you two are done doing...whatever it is that you're doing, we'd like our coffee,' he said, his voice laced with mirth.

'Alex followed me in and then attacked me,' Autumn said, trying to wriggle out from underneath Alex, but his grip on her was firm and she couldn't get free. Darwin raised an eyebrow at Alex and gestured towards the struggling blonde girl underneath him. Alex gave him a sheepish smile and climbed off Autumn, brushing off his trousers before leaving the kitchen. Autumn huffed, annoyed that he'd just left her on the floor, and picked up the discarded spoon, perfecting her aim for a second before releasing it. It struck Alex on the back of the head, making him stop midstride, before he spun round with surprising speed and glared at Autumn, who was still lying on the floor, and huge grin on her face.

'You two, play nice,' Darwin warned them in a stern voice, but Alex paid no heed to his warning. Instead he strode over to Autumn, covering the space between them in 3 larges strides, hauled her up by her arms, and then slung her over his shoulder. She shouted in his ear, and pounded on his back with her fists, but it seemed to make no difference. He carried her out of the kitchen, and back towards their table. Sean, Hank, Angel and Raven were staring at the pair, their jaws almost hitting the floor. Autumn saw Darwin follow them, shaking his head and muttering something under his breath.

'Alex put me down NOW!' She shouted at the top of her lungs, making Alex wince in pain. She really did have a set of lungs on her. She could almost rival Sean when he screamed using his mutation.

'Alex, unless you'd like her to blast you into oblivion again, I'd suggest that you put her down. I don't really feel like being squashed by her force field,' Darwin said from behind them, barely keeping the mirth and disapproval in his voice hidden. Alex turned to face him, finally allowing Autumn to see the shocked faces of her friends. They still hadn't managed to close their mouths.

'Hi guys. Fancy seeing you like this?' Autumn said humorously, feeling light-headed from the blood rushing to her head. 'Feel like helping a friend out?'

'Sure,' Raven said, a devilish grin on her face. She climbed out of her seat, her blue sequined top sparkling in the light and matching her electric blue jeans. 'Hey, Charles! Hey Erik!' She shouted. Alex spun around quickly, dropping Autumn in the process, trying to figure out a way to explain what he was doing, but instead he was greeted by two very confused agents. The rest of the mutants burst out laughing at the shocked and slightly scared expression on Alex's face.

'Oh god! I can't believe that you fell for something that old,' Autumn managed to breathe out between bouts of giggles. Raven held out her hand to the young girl and hauled her up, before taking a mock bow and then sitting back in her seat. Autumn sitting in another chair and turned expectantly to Alex. 'Well?' She said.

'Well what?' Alex snapped, irritated that he'd been tricked by two _girls._

'Well, where's our coffee?' She asked expectantly, crossing her arms and looking into his eyes. She could barely keep the grin off her face when she saw Alex's face turn red.

'As I seem to remember, _you_ were meant to be getting that,' he gritted out.

'Yes, but that was before you interrupted me, attacked me, slung me over your shoulder and carried me out here. I think that you should make the coffee to make it up to me,' she explained, trying to keep a straight face.

'Fine,' he sighed in defeat. 'Sean, come help me.' He started off towards the kitchen, looking back at Sean expectantly. However, the redhead had put his head back in his arms and soft snores could be heard coming from his direction. Alex sighed and went to the kitchen on his own. He _would _get Autumn back for what she'd done to him today. One way or another he'd have his revenge.

It was late evening and the mutants had once again gathered in the small entertainment room as they had the night before. The chairs had been replaced, as had the window that Sean had managed to shatter. The statue was missing from the courtyard, most likely still being repaired or on its way to a rubbish tip. Alex, Sean and Darwin were busy playing pinball at the back of the room. Autumn was curled up on the sofa with yet another book that Hank had dug out for her and Raven, Hank and Angel were having a discussion about mutations.

'Oh look, I didn't know that the circus was in town.' All the mutants glanced up from what they were doing to see two CIA agents outside the window that fronted onto the courtyard. 'Hey, come on honey. Give us a little...' One of the agents made a poor impression of Angel's wings. 'No?' Angel glared at them and Raven grabbed her hand, squeezing it to give her reassurance. Autumn put down her book and took Angel's other hand, giving it an identical squeeze. 'Let's see the foot. Come on, let's see it, Bigfoot.' Hank stood up from the sofa and walked over towards the window, holding down a button next to it. The curtains slowly began to draw together and the only sound was of the agent whining loudly. 'Oh, come on,' he moaned before his view of us was cut off completely as the curtains finally shut.

Hank turned to give the girls a small, shy smile before settling down on the sofa next to Raven. 'They were just guys being stupid,' Raven told Angel, giving her small, soft, reassuring smile.

'Guys being stupid I can handle, okay,' Angel snapped at her, drawing her hand back to her as though Raven had burnt her. She picked up her drink with her free hand and Autumn released her other hand, giving it a quick squeeze before letting go. 'I've handled that my whole life. But I'd rather a bunch of guys stare at me with my clothes off, than the way that they were staring at me.' She placed her drink back on the table and sunk into the sofa.

'At us,' Raven added as she rubbed Angel's shoulder soothingly, trying to calm the frustrated girl down. She tried to coax her into conversation, but Angel refused and Raven gave up, turning away to talk to Hank. Alex and the boys resumed their pinball game. Only Autumn paid any notice to the ebony-haired girl, touching her arm lightly to gain her attention. Angel turned to her and gave her a small, weak smile.

'Are you going to be ok, Angel? I know what it's like to be seen as a freak,' she said comfortingly.

'Yeah I'll be fine Autumn –' Angel was cut off by a loud thud that echoed through the room. Everyone stopped what they were doing, the boys pausing their game of pinball, Raven and Hank cutting off their conversation mid-sentence. A few moments passed and the mutants were just about to brush it off, when there was a second, louder thud.

'What was that?' Darwin asked as there was yet another thud, closer this time. 'Something doesn't feel right.' The mutants all stood up and gathered around the window. They looked up and saw two figures silhouetted by the moon, before one of the figures disappeared and the other fell to the ground. With a growing sense of dread, they realised that the figure on the ground was a dead CIA agent. Raven and Angel screamed loudly as yet another CIA agent dropped to the floor.

Voices behind them startled the mutants and they turned to see agents filing into the courtyard, carrying guns and shouting. For a moment, the mutants thought that they would be alright. But then a red-skinned mutant appeared behind one the agents.

'SHOOT! SHOOT!' The air was filled with the sound of gunfire, but the red-skinned man simply disappeared, the only evidence that he had been there was the dead body of an agent.

'Get back! Stay there! Don't leave that room!' One of the agents ordered the mutants. Raven and Angel screamed again as more agents dropped from the sky and the snapping of their bones reverberated around the courtyard. The boys pushed the girls behind them, trying to shield them from what was happening. A strange whooshing sound behind her made Autumn turn around and what she saw shook her to the core.

'Uh, guys, you might want to look at this,' she said uncertainly, unsure of whether she was actually going mad or not. The other mutants turned to see a large tornado sweeping past the window, destroying everything in its path, including Cerebro, which Hank had so carefully built.

'Stay here my ass!' Darwin yelled, watching as more agents dropped from the sky and more bloodcurdling screams filled the courtyard. 'Let's go!' They hurried out of the room and down the corridor, until one of the agents stopped them.

'Get back! Go!' He yelled at them, ushering them back towards the room. There was a large explosion from behind them and more bursts of gunfire. The mutants scrambled through the door and were confronted by the sight of the tornado right in front of one of the windows. The red skinned mutant had stopped attacking the CIA agents, mainly because they were all dead.

Autumn could see him clearly now. He was wearing a dark suit and had long, sleek, black hair. He also had a long, red tail which was pointed at the end, reminding her of a devil's tail.

The other mutant, who had presumably conjured up the tornado, looked as though he was Spanish, with slightly tanned skin and dark brown hair that was swept back. He was wearing a different kind of suit to the red-skinned mutant. He was wearing a white shirt, a black evening coat and black trousers with shiny black shoes. They both advanced towards the room in which the young mutants were trapped.

Loud gunshots echoed in the corridor outside the room, and Alex grabbed Autumn's hand, wanting to protect her from the immediate danger that they were in. Hank did the same with Raven, positioning himself in front of her to shield her.

'Wait! Wait!' The pleas of one agent in the corridor could be heard through the thick doors. 'You want the mutants? They're right inside that room, through that door. Please, just let us normal people go –' Another gunshot sounded and the man was silenced, forever. The door slowly swung open to reveal a man who looked to be in his 40s. He was dressed in a smart suit, with a black helmet on his head. _It looks rather silly, _Autumn thought, before she mentally chastised herself for thinking of something like that while they were in their current life-or-death situation. The door swung shut behind him and he glanced towards the red-skinned mutant.

'Where's the telepath?' He asked the red-skinned mutant who had begun to walk towards the room.

'Not here,' he replied.

'Too bad. Well, at least I can take this silly thing off.' He said, removing the shiny helmet from his head to reveal a head of light brown hair. He turned to the young mutants and addressed them. 'Good evening. My name is Sebastian Shaw, and I am not here to hurt you.'

'Freeze!' A final CIA agent had appeared in the courtyard and was brandishing a gun, aiming it at Shaw and his compatriots.

'Azazel,' Shaw commanded, his gaze never leaving the group of young mutants. The red mutant, Azazel, vanished once again before reappearing behind the remaining CIA agent and killing him before he even realised what had happened.

'My friends,' Shaw began, handing his helmet to the Spanish mutant who had created the tornado. 'There is a revolution coming, when man discovers who we are, and what we can do. Each of us will face a choice; be enslaved or rise up to rule.' His gaze roamed over each of the mutants, and Autumn tried hard not to cringe when his gaze landed on her. 'Choose freely, but know that if you are not with us, then, by definition, you are against us. So, you can stay and fight for people who hate you, who fear you. Or you can join me, and live like kings...and queens.' He finished his grand speech, and moved to look at Angel, offering his hand to her. After a moment of hesitation, she accepted his hand and moved to stand by him. Autumn reached out to grab her, but Alex took her other hand in his and held her back.

'Angel?' Raven asked, her voice tick with emotion and disbelief. She made a move to go to the ebony-haired girl, but Hank squeezed her hand and she stopped.

'Are you kidding me?' Sean asked, his voice laced with undisguised hatred and his eyes filled with disgust.

'Come on. We don't belong here and that's nothing to be ashamed of,' she said, looking at the remaining mutants. She looked close to tears, and she held out her hand towards Autumn and Raven. Darwin shook his head in disbelief and held out his hand to Angel, who also shook her head and ignored his hand.

'We have to do something,' Autumn heard Darwin whisper to Alex over her head. Alex nodded his head, and positioned himself so that Autumn was now standing next to Hank and Raven. Raven grabbed her hand and squeezed it tightly, desperately wishing that this was all a dream.

Shaw, Azazel, Angel and the Spanish mutant had begun to moved towards the courtyard when Darwin shouted, 'Stop!' The group of four did stop, and Darwin jogged towards them. 'I'm coming with you!'

'Good choice,' Shaw said, gesturing for him to stand beside Angel. 'Now, tell me about your mutation.'

'I adapt to survive,' he replied to Shaw. 'So I guess I'm coming along with you.'

'I like that,' Shaw said.

Darwin walked over to Angel and grabbed her hand before he shouted, 'Alex!'

'Go,' Alex ordered Sean, Hank, Raven and Autumn, pushing them all towards the door. Autumn could faintly hear Darwin yelling at Alex, before Sean dragged her out of the room. She could see the familiar red glow that signalled that Alex was firing up his power.

A few moments passed before they all became anxious and they dashed into the room to find Alex and Darwin standing in the courtyard. Darwin was bent over and coughing and Alex was thumping him on the back, trying to help him. After a few seconds, Darwin seemed to recover and Alex helped him stand upright. They slowly hobbled over to the group and they all gathered in a circle.

'They left. Angel left with them. We couldn't stop her,' Darwin said, his voice hoarse from his coughing fit. 'Shaw tried to kill me. He sort...absorbed Alex's energy, and then he condensed it into a small ball and shoved it down my throat. It almost killed me, but I finally managed to adapt to survive against it. Is everyone else ok?' Everyone muttered something resembling 'yes' with varying degrees of enthusiasm. They'd just lost of one their friends and comrades earlier.

'Good. I guess we should clear out before this place comes down around us.' Darwin lad the way out of the building. Parts of the ceiling had begun to fall down, probably due to the explosion that they'd heard earlier. They followed Darwin in single file, avoiding the fallen debris. The floor creaked and groaned and Autumn was sure that it would collapse if they made one wrong move.

They finally made it outside where they gathered round the benches and sat down, waiting for Charles, Eric and Moira to come back.

**I'm very sorry for changing the story like this but I really just couldn't bear killing off Darwin. I was really upset when he died in the film. If you're not happy with me changing the story like this then I can rewrite it and kill him off instead. Thank you all for you reviewers, and for favouriting and following my story! Please continue reading!**


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